you've got the wrong guy...

Last nights insomnia enabled me to hear the story of 3 brothers suing BSA and the "Mormon" church for sexual abuse by an LDS leader and later step-father of theirs in the 70's and 80's. It's appalling, saddening, disgusting, a disgrace, and possibly true but i think they've " got the wrong guy". I don't know many details, only the snippets on the news-cast, but it seems that the men should be suing their step-father instead. He now lives in Georgia and "can't be reached for comment". Rightly, since they had told someone else about it, that person should have reported it to the authorities immediately - just as THEY should have. I haven't read in detail yet, and the LDS church says it "will investigate the allegations and that it is at no fault". This sounds like 2 whole organizations being blamed for the very wrong doings of one person at a convenient time none the less.

one article related: http://news.aol.com/article/brothers-sue-mormons-boy-scouts-over/769820

San Jose attorney Allen Ruby, representing the church in Northern California, said he was not aware of a case in which courts have found a church liable for abuse committed by a family member.

Interview with illustrator Dave Habben

i stumbled on an LDS illustrator's Interview. nice work

Interview with illustrator Dave Habben

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Caribbean Cruise Vacation: scam or deal?

us arriving in Bahamas

Amy at the bottom of the Abyss water slide

Atlantis Resort on Paradise Island

Promo photo: float through the shark tank

Promo photo: Shoot through the shark tank

I did it! (Amy did too! but "once is enough".)

Our cabin

At dinner (yum)

At Epcot
_________________________________

A co-worker wanted to know the details and ACTUAL price of our cruise...
My conclusion: cheap way to spend

• 1 day of fun in Bahamas
• 1 day at Disney world
• get a taste of cruising
• and 1 week away from work
  
• while getting a lot of laughs about the "cheapness"
  

Our Bahama Cruise information (video) if you're interested:
We took this trip last week (Sep 2009) and some people asked about the price, details and, "if it's a scam?".

Package Includes:

• 3nights cruise to Nassau Bahamas on the Bahamas Celebration from imperial majesty
  
• 4 nights in Orlando and/or Ft. Lauderdale Ramada Inn (welcome center)- Orlando (actually Kissamee is the nicer but the ship ports in Ft. Lauderdale
• AND 1week Budget car rental OR $100 for gas OR Universal Studios Hollywood tickets)
• All Meals included (at hotels and on cruise ship)

The Honest Costs:

• $398 per couple (we opted to upgrade that to a top deck window cabin)
• $258 Ship porting fees + taxes
• Upon arrival guests pay only Florida taxes on the hotel stay (~$15 p/night)
  
• 1 week car rental (~$65 if you claim 1 driver)
  
• Hotel buffets (~$2.50 p/person)
• Sit through your standard "low-pressure" time share presentation on one of the mornings on land (we really want to buy one eventually, but said "not now, thank you" and they presented very tempting foreclosure deals thereafter)
  
• On the cruise is where you can decide your Bahama Excursion: We chose the ATLANTIS AQUAVENTURE and tour. A waterside park merged with spectacular aquariums = By far the best part of our trip. There are watersides through shark tanks and into piranha aquarium surrounded caves. (awesome and worth the admittance price of $150ea)
• The beds on cruises are bunk-style so we put the mattresses together on the floor
• must book your reservations within a year of purchase
• we spread out the cost by purchasing in spring, buying our plane tickets in fall and traveling in late summer
• must love buffets (the cruise food was actually really good)
  
• must have the ability to have fun laughing at hokey decor, accommodations, salesmen and while waiting in porting lines
  

We purchased from Imperial Majesty:
Direct line to "Opal": 1-954-630-9449 dial 0 for operator and extension 4134 for Opal
Use our reference number: RI 101 708-071 OV (under your "friend's friend" Amy P.) for an additional discount

latest and greatest brother-sister prank

It all started when my mom and my sister were in the temple gazing into the mirror and my mom thought; "i wonder if we'll get married at the same time?".
I "got my sister good" by- when i was talking to my mom and she told me this.

During the conversation, Amy and I came to the conclusion that my mom and my sister should only go on double dates with single fathers and their son's.
If Clara has a date, she has to ask if the young gentleman has a single father and they have to spend every date T O G E T H E R :). My mother loved the idea too! H A P P Y

I know Clara will appreciate this idea. :)

Patchwork Canada or BANFF BANFF BANFF banff banff !!

These are Pictures from our trip to BANFF Canada with Kyle and Debbie +. They are patched together in "panoramics". I found them interesting composed this way and opted not to crop many of them to prevent cutting out details. click the pic to enlarge...






the end

1 2 3

Baby Picture (1977)

Kid Picture (1985)

Juvenile Delinquent Picture (1998 in Salt Lake with family the day before my mission)

Wilson stories

Wilson stories related on father's day 2009

Written by H. Allen Wilson IV's point of view: related from and edited by Howard A. Wilson III-

My Great Grandfather Howard Allen Wilson. (1st) "haywire Wilson" to his friends- Rancher/Farmer and Scavenger (reselling found items like metal or anything "lying around" by the train tracks.)

My Dad's Grandmother- Clara Mason (married name) second wife of Louie Mason.

_______________________

My Grandfather Howard Allen Wilson Jr. "Junior or Uncle Jr." to the family - mechanic and industrial metal logy worker heat treating- his wife would read the "text books" to him which he had difficulty reading. 

My Dad's Mom- Edith Patricia (Mason) Wilson was named "Patricia" because she was born on St. Patrick's Day and went by Patricia or Pat. She was the second daughter of Clara's and the third daughter of Louie's.

 The LDS church near Lodi Lake was built on Mason Property which is why my Patriarch knew the Wilson family well and spoke well of my GGF and GF. The church is Ham Lane near the intersection of Ham Lane.  and Turner Rd.

The old Mason ranch that included vineyards and the Lodi Lake, had pigs that would swim across the lake to islands in the a.m. and back in the p.m. (On two occasions he built bridges to the islands from a point on west of the lake near the Woodbridge Cemetery but the next spring runoffs took them out each time.) Louie Mason wanted to give the lake and the land around it to the city of Lodi. He talked to his neighbor to his east Mr. Beckman about his plans and that it would so much nicer for the new park to have access to the islands from the east and could he also give some of his land to the city to make this possible? This was agreeable to Mr. Beckman so a strip of land on the west side of his property, east side of the lake, was transferred to Mr. Mason then Mr. Mason gave, the lake, islands, the land south of the lake north of Tuner Rd., and enough land on the east side for park goers to have access to the islands, but kept in his name a narrow strip of land on the east side in his name, that he and daughters built homes on and moved into.  He sold the old family home south of the lake across Turner Rd. 

_______________________

My dad's mom's mother's family descended from the Lytle family in the west of Ireland - English Irish The family lived in a stone house overlooking Sligo Bay, County Sligo, Ireland. The son was sent to college where he met a girl from a neighboring county, also a student there, and fell in love with her. He brought her home to his family, but his family didn't think she was good enough for him. He wouldn't give her up, so they kicked him out, and the couple came to the US.

 

______________________

Howard Allen Wilson III- my dad – December 8, 1945 NAVY Sea Bee Construction Electrician

Dad's adopted sister- Mary Elizabeth Wilson

Some Protestant Christian German on my GP Wilson's side (?)

Asay's my (mom's side) - English (?) or maybe French from Canada- ask Grammy

 

 

Channel 1049 (KCNL-104.9fm)

Channel 1049 (KCNL-104.9fm)

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Designatoruim reminisce

Here's a picture of our Designatorium before it went (is going) all "HOLLYWOOD" on us...
posh furniture and giant-screens with movie graphic effects are being installed as we "speak".
image: getting ready to sketch
--
H. Allen Wilson IV
Industrial Designer & unicyclist
WAGIC Design

Thank you!

To all you who called yesterday,
Thanks for helping make Amy's birthday great :)
Even if we didn't pick up, (we may have been in the city) she appreciated the messages, birthday wished and songs.

We HIGHLY recommend seeing "WICKED" . It was very very clever and funny with awe striking sets, spectacular vocals and a heartwarming and revealing story.



And of course, some of you know how much Amy loves Roy's Hawaiian Fusion, she'll always recommend that restaurant.
Thank you all :)

political joke

	♫ They said pigs would fly before we had a black president... And sure enough, after 100 days in office "Swine Flu". friend's sketch http://lineweights.wordpress.com/2009/04/30/pig-zombies/

"If I had a million dollars, Allen" by Anders

Anders: ".... HAHAHA! Allen, you can always make me smile... You know, with you're humor, if I had a million dollars I'd start your own kid's show. One where you teach kids to build stuff. All this A.D.D.-hyper-active crap like Blues Clues is just not cutting it. It would be something where you're like...
'Hey Kids!! We're going to make an Oxygen recycling apparatus with a tube [holding his hands in the air] and a _____ (i don't remember the other things listed but it was funny)...'
Something where the kids actually learn something interesting."

me: "Remember Commander Mark and the Secret City?"

Anders: jabs an extended finger toward me "Exactly"

me: states "that's a compliment"

Much of my childhood I looked forward to seeing this man come on PBS and i would SCRAMBLE to find paper and pencil before the 8-minuite lessons were over. You can now see many of them on You-tube... Meet Commander Mark and his secret City...
(You may notice that my drawing style is quite similar)

Wedding Photo Locations

Amy's Facebook Album: http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=2315393&op=4&o=global&view=global&subj=638582650&id=647949664#/album.php?aid=97090&id=647949664
A few more in mine: http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=638582650&v=photos&so=45#/album.php?aid=40245&id=638582650

RabbidSlippers

Yugen, my co-worker, made rabbit slippers for quite a few people in the office--- Half making fun of the company logo--- Half for a reason/excuse to walk around the office in slippers.

I simply added the vampire teeth to give them a "friendlier" touch.

Hard Boiled Chickens

A funny thing happened today. As I was getting ready for work I tried to consolidate a few things in the fridge by putting the 3 hard-boiled eggs in the carton with about 13 fresh eggs. You think you know where this story is going, but you actually don't. I was smarter than you think and I had decided to mark the boiled eggs so they could not be confused (even though we DO know the spinning egg determinant). When I got home for my lunch break I noticed Amy baking and saw that there were 2 egg shells in the sink.


I pried, " So...? did you notice anything special about the eggs?".
Amy: "Yah, you marked them" Allen: "Yah, but did you see what they SAID?!"
Amy: "Yah, (we say 'yah' a lot) you marked them 'hard boiled' or something."

Allen: "NO...! silly! LOOK! it says....
(Now I distinctly point out each of the three eggs individually)
"I"...."<3"....>"U"

"I" the capitol letter "I"
"love" represented by a heart
"U" representing "You"

Unfortunately she opened the carton sideways and read "HBC" which obviously stands for "Hard-Boiled Chickens".
My romantisism was lost.
Luckily she's more... appreciative of laughter than "mushy stuff"
;)

Kristi

Amy made the nicest comment I've ever received.
We were talking about her memories of her mom because we had to go through her (Kristi's) things stored in their storage unit.
Needless to say it's been a hard weekend.

She told me, "My mom would have really liked you."
me: "Yeah?"
Amy: "Yeah, i really think she picked you out specially for me form heaven"

I told her, "that was very nice of her to think that'" and cried a little because I wished I knew her too.

78 "to do's"

well, most of them are "to do's"

and 1 more for my 100,000th (in binary)

Try JibJab Sendables® eCards today!

a card from michelle for my Bday

Try JibJab Sendables® eCards today!

Proposition X

Q: Which Proposition was it that asked us to vote for a law to enforce the ability to "fully extend their limbs and turn around freely" of a baby fetus? (that's just my commentary on how we Californians can vote to protect livestock but not unborn humans. !?)

AFTER NOTE: ha ha ha . My classmates are pretty funny. My comment tag on Gmail spawned them to continue the conversation with comments like:
Californians protect the rights of farm animals but not Gays (Tom)...
much later- what about the rights of gay farm animals!? (Thomas)
they have the right to flap their wings but not get married (Tom)

FYI-

• Prop 2: Requires that calves raised for veal, egg-laying hens and pregnant pigs be confined only in ways that allow these animals to lie down, stand up, fully extend their limbs and turn around freely. (Ca voted YES)
  
• Exceptions made for transportation, rodeos, fairs, 4-H programs, lawful slaughter, research and veterinary purposes.
• 
  
• Prop 4: WAITING PERIOD AND PARENTAL NOTIFICATION BEFORE TERMINATION OF MINOR'S PREGNANCY. INITIATIVE CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT (Ca voted NO)

Jack and Sally and ZERO!

The Nightmare Before Christmas costumes. Here are some day-time shots that are ok. I hope to get some cool at-night photos though because Zero's nose lights up! we made the costumes all by ourselves (except the mask/gloves and wig). She's a good-looking Sally, huh?

We went to Great America for all the Haunted houses on Saturday night. It was a blast. Amy says I kept holding her tight and pushing her through the doorways ahead of me. My defense is that i was holding her because she was screaming-scared. it was fun.

WICKED!

Amy's B-day is in May. i just got her Birthday present (early) for her and she is giddy with excitement... Tickets to the Broadway show WICKED playing at the Orpheum San Fran) Theater.
technically, she picked it out, found that there were tickets available on her Birthday and bought them with my debit card, which I would have done myself, but I'm glad she's so happy and gets what she REALLY wanted.
http://books.google.com/books?id=MLEujRNyoMUC&dq=wicked&pg=PP1&ots=h2S_BU1pSe&sig=r6GxqVU1ZN8t6z0gT5_7HSC1mTw&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=4&ct=result#PPA211,M1

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

thank you God for inventing health insurance:

i only payed $100 for this and the ER visit a week earlier.

$36,850.90

*ha!

this always makes me laugh- thought i'd share

whipersnapper

find me :)

You're my Sally

Amy got me a nice gift the other night. She knows how much I like The Nightmare Before Christmas characters and the Jack and Sally love story, so she bought me a set of blank cards with Jack and Sally’s portraits on them. They came in a cool black velvet box too. I love her!

Thanks for getting the house ready for our families’ visits 2 weekends in a row, Luv Bug <3

You're my Sally :)

tied (and bolted) together

I went to the Doc yesterday. He un-splinted the hand and took a look. To my surprise he said that my skin was elastic/loose enough that he only had to make one incision! Unfortunately the hand is swollen like a bruise-green and yellow pitcher's mitt. Today one of our students woke up, opened his eyes and saw my fingers sticking out of my splint and said "Dude! why is your hand that funky color?!" Amy and I explained to him surgery, iodine and bruising due to blood pooling. Also, the tendons are so sore and stiff that I have about 10degrees of flexibility. :( My 1st rehabilitation therapy is Friday morning at 8:00 am.
The doc showed me the x-rays and explained that he used 2 differently shaped titanium plates with bolts and also showed me that he bound the bones together with a wire. I told Amy that my Dr. must have grown up in the country because he used bailing wire to fix me up... I guess there was no need for duct tape today.

In other news: on Monday, perplexingly, all the student's seminary materials were missing. We scrambled a bit looking for them and asked the bishop if he knew anything about it but continued on with the lesson as planned (using scriptures from the library). Long story short, we got a call from a nearly-apologetic (caught) student saying that the books would be returned by class time the next day. The next day he actually apologized and everything was dandy.

1st day back at work

Amy was smart and suggested I take pain pills alternately every few hours (instead of trying not to take any and waiting till it hurt too much to stand.)

So i took an Ibuprofen and hydro-codeine alternately every few hours. it worked great till i decided to take the codeine just before work and spent the whole day trying to stay awake... not very productive... in fact it's only 4pm now.
woozy-dizzy me- back to work... zzzz

wish me luck!

surgery is at 5:30am to 9/10:00am (release time) at O'Connor Medical Center.
I already wrote "NO!" on the top of my right hand so they don't cut into the good one. :)
thanks for the well-wishes, AW

Re: Family, yah... i got a boo boo,

hi all, Cindy asked for more details. I'm pretty slow at typing, but... this excuse doesn't help.
I either landed on it and smashed my hand with a wrist-guard OR i just wrenched my fingers back...
I've a plaster splint and I'll hear from the dr. office today as to when surgery is scheduled.
i hear 4-6 weeks to heal. I'll have metal plates in the middle of my hand on my 2 middle (middle and ring) finger's metacarpals (that's right where spider man presses for his web to spin.) thanks for the concern, AW

wolverine-me!

i get 2 plates a lot like this. surprisingly, I will be able to move my fingers nearly immediately after the surgery (next week).
(Amy said i was going to be like wolverine and REALLY like the man of steel)

"This healing ability enabled the supersoldier program Weapon X to bond the near indestructible metal alloy adamantium to his skeleton and claws."

Ctrl + Z

7:45 last night past dusk. I tried to get a 1/2 hour in at the skate park before it closed. I was having a really fun session until i tried a front-side rail-slide on a slickening-from-the-evening-dew rail. with my fingers all twisted around i knew they were at least out of socket so i tried to re-set them. That didn't do much good as you can see from the x-ray. hint- i told the doc that "I broke 1 or 2 metacarpals"
(look at numbers 3 & 4 at mid-hand)

I called Amy at work and she came to my rescue as soon as she could. Then the elders- they met us at our place before we went to the hospital and gave me a blessing. I asked the new elder to give it and he's Tongan just learning English- it was testimony building. Amy's been taking great care of me even while being sick. I hope all works out well. ouch

yes, i was wearing ALL my pads. :)

1/2 year anniversary July 4 2008

This is the Shadowbrook Restaurant. We found it highly appropriate since our engagement celebration night dinner (and our 1st beach night date) were at the Crow's Nest restaurant which is owned by the same people. The Crow's nest will always be "our" restaurant, but this place was extremely charming as well. I'm sure IT claims the heart of many couples as well.

The Shadowbrook has an amazing atmosphere best enjoyed in the evening. It has a trolley that descends to the restaurant through a steep, multi-tiered garden. There are dining areas overlooking the creek and patio and the decor is like what I might describe as "European mountain-lodge". I recommend it highly, but be sure to go at night when it's a-sparkle with romance.

salamanders vs newts

Saturday, July 12, 2008,

Here is one of the Salamanders that Amy found on our 10 mile hike through Big Basin waterfalls ( it was her idea actually :D ). They were rough brown on top and smooth bright orange on bottom. I think it's pretty cute that she calls them lizards then geckos then finally salamanders. I got to wondering if I was also calling it the wrong name so I looked it up...

Surprisingly, there is no really meaningful difference. The distinction is more historic than scientific. Newts are a subgroup of salamanders. All newts are salamanders, but not all salamanders are newts. The following are the things that distinguish newts from salamanders.

• A salamander is called a "newt" if it belongs to one of the following genera: Cynops, Echinotriton, Euproctus, Neurergus, Notophthalmus, Pachytriton, Paramesotriton, Pleurodeles, Taricha, Triturus, or Tylototriton.
• Newts generally spend more of their adult lives in the water than salamanders. However, there are exceptions (terrestrial newts and aquatic salamanders).
• Newts generally have more distinctive differences between the sexes and a more complex aquatic courtship. Again, there are exceptions.

Amy's being a tree spirit here

sexy moose head

(Amy got a moose hat from her sister who visited Canada and it's actually cute...)
Last week I asked Amy out on an old-time funny-adventure date. Steam-trains through the dark "moonlight" redwoods, BBQ and line dancing pretty much gets the idea across. Hey, it seemed like a fun[ny] thing to do. it was actually pretty fun and a beautiful setting with ponds and ducks and a covered bridge. When we arrived, we felt a little sheepish because all of the other dates were wearing formals and we had just changed OUT of our dress clothes and into jeans and sweat-shirt/flannel (to fit in with the hill-billys).
Luckily the dressy people were there for a wedding reception - what a relief. the BBQ steak was pretty rare and we got a kick out of watching a cute ancient couple square dance.

The steam train through the woods was the highlight. Amy sat by a little boy holding a pink flower whom immediately tried to kiss her (well, nearly immediately). The kid must have been 2 or 3 and that his favorite color was pink, so I don't blame her for thinking he was a she when Amy asked the father about his very friendly daughter. I couldn't tell until I heard him addressed as "Timothy".

Our train ride was fun and adventurous. We spent a good hour trying to get up a steep grade (8.5%!) (3% is usually unheard of). We played the Thomas the steam engine game by trying and failing 3 times because there was so many riders that the load was too heavy (6 open cars full) . Eventually they had to call a diesel engine to push us to the top where we were met by guitar-playing "cowboys" singing around a campfire. There was hot chocholate and apple pie and good times. The train Also had 3 switch-backs where you go forward up hill and stop, switch the track behind the train and then go BACKWARD up another hill. It was pretty fun.

Amy and I danced to some [awesome] country music and acted silly. We had a good time- I hope she liked it.

pineapple pancakes

Amy was a wonderful seminary teacher and made banana, buttermilk, plain and PINEAPPLE pancakes! We were celebrating the Summer birthdays of Chris and Tony. They looked almost as good as this picture with all the strawberry and banana slices... vanilla yogurt or maple syrup. mmmmmmm! mmm.
Needless to say class enjoyed it but didn't get a lot of meaningful scripture mastery study in.
If you haven't made hot and fresh pineapple pancakes, you should!

License plate LDS scripture & hymnal cover

Instructable: http://www.instructables.com/id/License_plate_book_cover_LDS_scripture_amp_hymn/?ALLSTEPS
Memory-souvenir turned useful.
Yes, I "made it"! But, I must admit one thing. I did not COMPLETELY make this form scratch. I actually tore apart an un-used souvenir CD holder that I got on our honeymoon so the hinge was re-used.
I would have made one from scratch using my old black and yellow plates from my 68 VW square-back (deceased), but I didn't have much time and needed it before seminary started Monday.
It looked quite different and I really wanted to make one from scratch so I could say "I did the whole thing myself" but I also appreciate that I can say it's a souvenir from our honeymoon instead of my old car... that's much more romantic anyway. Truth is that the only part that I didn't rivet on myself is the hinge. I even had to unbend and re-bend the license plate and remove all the original hardware. I added new hardware, re-formed the bends and perm-a-sealed neoprene to it for a liner. It was pretty easy to make the pattern for that. The hard part was cutting it smoothly- and grinding the plate to hold it down. The license plate is EXACTLY the right size to fit around a small-version LDS quad and hymnal and there is still room for my 8-color scripture-marking pencil. I love it and I love telling people that I made it from a souvenir of our honeymoon.

prayers answered:

So Amy and I are teaching seminary now. It started yesterday.
Time: 6am - 6:50 ( e a r l y ! )
Subject: New Testament
We joke that it was an answer to our prayers because we wanted motivation to be better at studying together... well, we got our answer!
The first day was tough because we were up all night worried about the next morning and that 1st impression stuff.
The lesson was supposed to be a grab-your-attention-"zinger", but you know that's hard to do at 6am after 3 months of vacation. (even for the teacher.)
Never the less, I thought it went well-to-alright. Amy on the other hand started to freak out because of what the kids wrote about the experience in their journals. Some were very positive and some were pretty negative. She rightfully had issue with a few of the students being rude. There are plans to nip that in the bud. She ended up focusing on a few trouble-makers and got a little "discouraged".
So the next day another prayer was answered... it was the get-yo-know-you day and she got paired up with the girl that had given biggest attitude. The great thing is that they shared stories, got along great and laughed a lot. It turns out their a lot alike. And honestly, Amy is a very personable person. She can make anyone smile- that's what I love about her! well, that and a few other things too :)
Today we're not fall-asleep-at-work tired and actually enjoyed getting up early and spending the morning together. It's a nice change. It's different than when I would get ready and come give her a hug while she lay in bed still (which I'll miss a lot), but I think it's a change for the better... even though we have to be the cool young couple that has to go to bed early.

My photography

I found these photos i took long ago.
The flamingo is a nice piece of art (taken at the Oakland zoo) and the car-top tent pic (although not beautiful to most) is my fav' car-project & reminds me of my park-ranger job because I'd often just pop my tent and camp instead of going to Tyler's place to sleep.
(I'm seeing about selling the tent, sadly http://www.thesamba.com/vw/classifieds/detail.php?id=652274). I'd also (of course) have to repair it in the campgrounds often as well as on the way to and from Angels Camp every weekend. It really was/is an unconditional love relationship between that car and I.

ciao'

3D photo-tour = awesome

I've been negligent on blogging. And i've almost completed a few projects i'd like to share... BUT in the meantime i'll direct you to some awesome stuff i've seen.
and other stuff in my shared folder @ http://www.google.com/reader/shared/15340637955416290035 (updated regularly)

Ciao4Now! Allen

architecture thievery?

I don't know, but you conclude...

credit card fee realization...

So, Do you know how your credit card fee is calculated? I just figured it out!

We've been watching our credit closely and learning how to raise our credit scores (without paying lots of interest fees).
We bought a couch last week and I wondered how the credit cards come up with the seemingly random finance-charge so I found out something very interesting.
They charge a tiny interest daily (.04%) SO I wanted to know how much money we would be paying if we put the couch on credit for 1 month verses 1 day.
In other words: what would we save by paying the charge the day after the charge instead of at the end of the month.
TAKE A LOOK!...
$18.75 vs 63cents !

We're expecting

a new couch any day now. We're very excited and anticipate it's arrival. We don't know if it's a boy or a girl yet, but we do know what color it is. Dark Grey (and very comfortable I might add).

GOOGLE READER: ok, i'm addicted

(click)to google reader! basically it looks like your email in-box but instead of mail you get the newest articles that your favorite websites post. I have a "design" folder with ~20design sites that I SHOULD be keeping track of as a designer but had no way to do it efficiently. Now i just tell it which sites OR search "gadgets" for instance and subscribe to the site "feed". Now i can skim through 100s of articles with photos and see what catches my eye. I can do proactive research.

it does local NEWS, you-tube, anything! Even your friends Blogs post to your "inbox".

There is a "SHARE" feature that you can show your friends what caught your eye.You have to start using it to get the full effect, but HERE ARE A FEW OF MINE:
(pictured is a super-thin and durable tyvek mailing-envelope wallet featured in the museum of modern art I tried to make one, but I want the designer's version)

Making Fun of Fonts

See more funny videos and funny pictures at CollegeHumor.

http://www.collegehumor.com/video:1823766

Design tool:

we have something like this... (but it only prints plastic but i have made plastic molds to make rubber parts)

Magic wheel (Gauswheel) = Awesome toy

Stares: good or bad?

Friday, July 18, 2008, 8:19:26 PM

i'm adding a photo:

So, we got all dressed up - me in my 3-piece suit with red tie and new faux-hawk she in her brown skirt & top with plaid heels and [hot] neck scarf with her hair all curled and looking absolutely gorgeous...

A good situation is when you open the door for your wife at a nice restaurant and, as you follow her in, you see that many of the men are looking at her... then of course they see me and avert their eyes = Good situation.

So it's strange when I open the door, let her step in ahead of me, follow her in, see the guys staring BUT then I am caught in an uncomfortable eye-lock with the row of gay guys standing at the bar = Good situation or Bad situation... uncomfortable either way.

Amy enjoyed it and laughed though. I just don't know weather to be flattered or not. So, backstory is that she loved Roy's restaurant in Hawaii and after hearing they opened in San Fran (http://www.roysrestaurant.com/), I made a reservation. we ate the appetizer canoe with yummy everything including these lobster pot-stickers. For dinner, the m academia crusted butter yellow tail and for desert- chocolate souffle and strawberry shortcake. yummy (BUT, we still love CreAsian better )(we found it on the way home from the temple) (better price and portions great presentation). http://www.creasianbistro.com/index.html

Farding Kills

Ok, so get this… It's "ride-you're-bike-to-work-day" so naturally I appeased Mother Earth by strapping my bike to the roof of my car and DROVE-my-bike-to-work… (Does that count?). So, now I'm driving down Winchester in the "fast-lane" on my way to work -Chomping on my yummy blueberry Cliff bar- when I pull up to a stoplight and tragedy strikes... almost.

So, I'm slowing to a stop when a sun-damaged, renegade Ford Mercury flies into my lane while turning left – heads straight at me – and then onto the center island – dodges around traffic-light and sign posts – all the while casually signaling a merge into the proper side of the street then jumps into the proper flow again. I'm unscathed, but on tomorrows commute, that woman will think twice about farding.

(look up "fard")

Eating Healthy-

This Salmon Burger recipe confused us- http://food.yahoo.com/recipes/epicurious/105602/salmon-burgers-with-spinach-and-ginger
274 kcal = low-cal meal? (yes/no)
We found that
1 kcal = 1 Calorie (big "C") = 1000 calories (little "c")
So, in fact, this recipe has 274,000 calories!
if that's not confusing enough... we Americans interchange Calorie with calorie and it's really only 274 "Calories"


AVOCADOS:
Amy has been awesome at making sure we eat healthy. I've never seen so much fruit in my life and she's always finding healthy recipes that she wants to try out. I don't know as much as she does and I definitely think that I know how to eat healthy- but in truth, she knows more and i slowly pick things up from her... slowly. For instance, I heard that Avocados were one of the fattiest foods so I avoided them for so long, but often indulged when making deli-sandwiches- one of my favorites. She says i was wrong and I trust her - especially since I saw the nutrition facts on guacamole. Needless to say, my naivety about nutrition and OUR desire to eat well together has often led me to be re-informed. I'm learning- In fact, i think i'll look up avocados now...

"Although they are fruits, avocados have a high fat content of between 71 to 88% of their total calories - about 20 times the average for other fruits. A typical avocado contains 30 grams of fat, but 20 of these fat grams are health-promoting monounsaturated fats, especially oleic acid." http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=foodspice&dbid=5 (best link)

"It's true that avocados are high in fat -- one reason they've earned the nickname "butter pear." A medium-sized avocado contains 30 grams of fat, as much as a quarter-pound burger. That's why diet experts have long urged Americans to go easy on avocados in favor of less fatty fruits and vegetables. But now nutritionists are taking another look. They're finding that most of the fat in an avocado is monounsaturated -- the "good" kind that actually lowers cholesterol levels. Thanks to this new understanding, the U.S. government recently revised its official nutrition guidelines to urge Americans to eat more avocados." http://www.webmd.com/diet/features/avocado-advantage

"Between 70-90% of the calories in avocados are from fat. All avocados contain "monounsaturated" fat, the same kind of fat as olives. This type of fat may help lower cholesterol. Also avocados are high in beta carotene, fiber, folate (a B vitamin), fiber, and potassium (ounce for ounce avocados have 60% more potassium than bananas). To put the fat in perspective, per ounce avocados have less fat than lean beef, and a whole Haas avocado (the highest fat variety) has less fat than 3 tablespoons of Italian salad dressing. So, go right ahead and put some guacamole on your burrito!" http://www.goaskalice.columbia.edu/0656.html

Anyway- enough studying for today
As usual, Amy's right and i heard wrong.

Zoolander-sized phone through wireless power

An interesting article about wireless power. Basically these MIT students made one coil of copper wire to transmit "magnetic resonance" (MHz) 7 feet across a room to another "receiving coil" to power a light bulb. This works a lot like an opera singer breaking a wine-glass that is receiving energy from her vocal frequency- except instead of harmonics, it's magnets. The cool part about this is that, unlike current electro-magnetic power-transfer, the power of this "magnetically coupled resonator" travels great distances and doesn't RADIATE and get lost in space creating RADIATION that can harm [human] organisms. Instead the power that isn't gathered by the receiving unit remains localized with the sending-unit.
http://www.gizmag.com/go/7418/
What does this mean to you? how about never having to plug in your "feather-light/paper-thin" laptop that doesn't even need a [heavy] battery or cord! Cell Phones are pretty thin now, but you could literally have a Zoo-lander-sized phone here. Pretty awesome stuff!
One of my school projects was Starbuck's furniture that had a fold-out table for your laptop and the table-top transfered power to your computer. Great idea, but this technology will quell whole "fear-of-cancer" thing that comes with current inductive power-transfer.

fight for freedom!

Amy and I went to Volleyball with Almaden3rd ward (it's now something else(?)) and there were all of these GoodWill clothes COVERING the whole stage. We sorted through them and found her brothers some hideous SF 49er sweat-pants (tiger and snake-skin patterns), her some black-with-neon-paint-splash sweat-pants and -of course- myself the MOST AWESOME AMERICAN FLAG PANTS! (made famous by Rex Quon Do in Napoleon Dynamite- http://www.evtv1.com/player.aspx?itemnum=558). Of course we wore them over our voleyball outfits as long as we could untill we got super hot... Now I love them as pajama pants and even wore them to Costco today for the 5th of July.

I love going to Costco because I don't have to dress up as much as I do when we go to Walmart. :D

(j/k)

CHINA Tour-day Photos

Well, as you may know, I was in China for a week- including a weekend.
So one day we toured a nearby Ancient water-town (with a leaning tower temple) and some botanical gardens. Here are some of my favorite shots.

Front gates of Suzhou- ancient water town

Suzhou- North temple Pagoda (Leaning tower of Pagoda)

This is when it started to rain.

Arches

Now it's pouring rain. (you'll see the tower is leaning towards us)

(Well, it's been there for 2500 years- why would it fall now?)

Taking a boat ride around the city moat.

random

Now it's a monsoon- even the mannequins are wading.

Joe had the women's attention... all they wanted was his money.

Talking Maynah bird

Later at the botanical gardens...

"hello" There's a little cliff and stream below me that wouldn't fit in frame.

beautiful architecture and landscaping!

of course they put us to work

in the rain the lily pads fill with water, tip over and pour off into each other. a very tranquil and poetic design.

Dragon scales

here's the picture we laughed about-
The group shot was funniest to Joe and I because – as I tell the
story- someone offered to take or photo so Joe and I stood in frame
(as far apart as men are supposed to stand away from each other) and our tour-guides/co-workers filled in the gap. Little did we know that
(even with my hand behind my back to avoid any "appearances") the
picture would still come out looking like 2 couples out on the town.
Far from the truth- needless to say- ESPACIALLY since the whole time I was thinking
"WOW look at that! I really really wish Amy was here with me!"

fasting helps jet lag

It's true- I tried it. You can help re-set your internal clock by waiting 16 hours to eat at breakfast time at your destination. You sort of trick your body into starting a new day at the right time. Listen to the research...
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=90769113

Only time f.or notes again.

How to say hi to someone in China.
Usually they just look at you like you're an ailien (especially if you're speaking their language)
However, when I was skating through town on my giant-wheeled Rollerblades and waving at the gawkers they'd say, "hey! helloello!"
I've always liked skating at night, but
I really like skating in China in the evening to see the neon lights, the interesting architecture and the strange looks i get.
BUT, the reason I like it most is that there are lots of fellow Rollerbladers- LOTS of them! they were the friendliest curious people out tonight.
Time to call my wifey :)

oh! i edited a bunch of photos and maybe i can post them soon.

"you are what you eat"

Hi Luv Bug, (Amy),

It;s funny that you wrote your blog about the "You are what you eat" show because (even though I have not seen it) I was telling the guys at work about it durring dinner. They found it amusing as I described it and the way it runs. I told them about the episode that you told me about where the man only ate meat and bread for a week and the host said, that he must be a stinky sick mess that likes to fart. well, i didn't go that far.

I tried to post this on your blog comment, but I think Myspace is one of the websites that China says we're not allowed to view. i'll post it later, or you can do it for me.
blog: http://allenwilsondesign.blogspot.com/2008_06_01_archive.html

I love you so much! and miss you too. Allen

--
H. Allen Wilson IV
Industrial Designer & unicyclist
WAGIC Design

notes for stories to catch up on...

"In America (gesturing my hand down my face), We don't eat anything with a face"

speaking of the future-
When I land in SF, i'll be able to say...

"Hey, wow! I was just in China 20 minutes from now."

 

(even after a 17hour flight)

 

AND

Invasion of the boil coverd waitresses

AND

shopping in the city

coming soon

Jane (our tour guide): "You don't look like your passport photo. We thought you looked like Nicolas Cage."

Me: … that's nice to hear, since, in America, Nicolase Cage is a very ugly man.

 

While sitting at lunch- served whole fish and shrimp waving my hand across my face "In America, we don't eat anything with a face."

 

It was fun explaining fortune cookies to Chinese natives.

Monsoon makes tourism more fun.

Jumping off rocks -Slipping falling on my but in a puddle.

Lilly pads tipping and pouring off the rain.

 Fighting women restaurant owners.

Being asked if "this" was what you usually order in america… (because they tried to order dishes that you would like).

sick to my soul

Appropriate titles: written the night of an experience that will never happen again.

1. "Be in the world but not of the world"

2. "Job hazard!? More like Relationship Hazzard"

3. "Like a mormon in a w**re house (pardon my mandarin)"

4. "It's as innocent or as corrupt as you want to make it."

5. "When cultures collide"

6. "A really bad day at the office"

I suddenly found myself with my supervisor (thank goodness he was there to dance around like an idiot to act like he was having fun) with our China business associates in a dark room with a karaoke screen and, when the door opened again, I soon relized that THIS karaoke is NOT that same in China as in the US. To make a long TORTUOUS and ear-peircing story short, I found myself hurriedly grabbing my digital camera- not to take pictures of course, mind you, but to rather show to the evening-gown-clad women, the pictures of my wife and explaining "This is my wife, Amy, so no 'funny business' (with my fingers making quote marks in the air)". They were nice, understanding even, complimentary of how beautiful my wife was and they got the message and were hopefully, for ONCE in their work-lives, treated respectfully by someone. Of course, they probably saw our defensive positions – hands clasped and elbows on knees with eyes straight ahead- and thought Joe and I were either prudes, or just plain gay (pardon). But that's fine with me.

Now I have mixed feelings- I hate the idea of what I saw [which was actually cleaner than a beer commercial, but still highly uncomfortable] - or rather the "strongly impled" potential that I saw. I don't know what goes on there and don't even want to think about it.

I often like to think of myself as adventurous and willing to try different culture's exotic foods and also as able to view other cultures while still keeping my distance and standards, but this is one sad thing that I just rather not know about or have every had to see or bear… on the other-hand I'm thankfully that Joe took me under his wing and assured me that, although we need to keep good relations with our vendors, that situation can be "as innocent or as corrupt as you make it [so we'll make it innocent]. Anyhow, I thankful that's over and now (after a few days together) that my China business associates understand my standards by (by observing and asking questions about my different behaviors) and we've become friendly and understanding of our differences, we can dismiss any more uncomfortable situations- THANKFULLY!

--
H. Allen Wilson IV
Industrial Designer & unicyclist
WAGIC Design

Japan Airport (JAL) lounge

we're sitting in the posh JAL lounge at the Japan airport. My boss gets to because he's a frequent flyer. He wanted to show off the robotic beer pourer when a Scottsman asked about it.

the bathroom urinals are awesome. HUGE, in fact.

fish eye fun

We saw Amy's Friend Jo Anne and her B/F Eric on a trip to Fresno.
They're our artsy friends with the cool but somewhat dark taste in art (Haloween cartoon-like) and music (the rockabilly concert we went to had old rat-rods and such.)
Eric bought Jo Anne a fish-eye camera for Christmas-last.
click to see my ape-arms in the background

Me, in the news... (video clip)

Perfectly clear

I wanted to see how this blog thing works. Perhaps keep a log of my up and coming trip to China for business.

Perhaps while I am there i can write a blog about our Hawaiian honeymoon vacation and Amy's birthday get-away to Seal Cove, Moss Beach.
Let's see what I can post on these things...

here are some Photos of our engagement announcement taken by Amy's sister Michelle
(MLP Photography)...







note: Blogger posts 3 sizes of pictures: sm, md, lg.
In order to get them to display in your blog PERFECTLY CLEAR you need to save them according to size.
Sm =102 pixels wide 72DPI
Md =163 pixels wide 72DPI
Lg =400 pixels wide 72DPI (maybe quadruple for the click-on larger image (?) )
ALSO, and this is very important: If you don't use PhotoShop's "Save For Web" feature it will save with a very pink cast (RGB vs sRGB).
Now that I've figured this out... Here you go.